Lithuania Faces Issues With Exporting Goods To China - Business Union

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 03rd December, 2021) Lithuanian companies have recently faced issues with customs clearance in Chinese ports after China allegedly deleted Lithuania from its customs systems, Vidmantas Janulevicius, the president of the Lithuanian Confederation of Industrialists, said on Thursday.

"Lithuania was deleted from the customs systems, it seems that there is no such country in the Chinese customs system," Janulevicius was quoted as saying by the Lithuanian 15min.lt news portal.

An unnamed Lithuanian timber importer had some of its 300 containers stuck in the Shanghai port because Chinese customs officials refused to give clearance to the goods as they allegedly could not find Lithuania in their computer systems, the news said.

China has not officially announced a ban on the exports of Lithuanian goods, but an "internal instruction" could have been passed down, General Director of the Lithuania-China Trade Association, Rokas Radvilavicius, said, according to the news portal.

The Lithuanian Foreign Ministry confirmed to 15min.lt that they were aware of the issues with the customs clearance of Lithuanian goods in China and were in contact with the European Commission to get a reaction at the EU level.

China-Lithuania relations soured this year after the Lithuanian government allowed Taiwan to open a representative office in the country. On August 10, China recalled its ambassador from Vilnius, to which Lithuania responded reciprocally on September 4.